Torbay Council 'slashed to the core' in £5.5million budget cut

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The boss of Torbay Council has warned it is among the UK's councils in crisis.

Chief executive Steve Parrock, said the authority could go the same way as cash-strapped Northamptonshire and Somerset County Councils as it struggles to make more than £12million in savings over the next three years.

He said: “We are a going concern but we do have serious concerns about future funding.

“I would not be surprised to see a significant reduction in non-statutory services.”

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“We will have to significantly reduce our core offer to the statutory services only.”

The authority’s statutory services are children’s services, adult social care, public health and planning.

But he warned that even these areas could see budget cuts, in areas like adult social care concerning preventative care measures, for example.

“It is these discretionary measures that would have to go first,” he said.

The Local Government Association, the umbrella body for all councils, says by 2020 councils will have faced a reduction of core funding since 2010 of nearly £16bn - a loss of 60p in every £1.

Torbay Council has the lowest council tax income in Devon and has been hit by council tax freezes and caps.

Plans for Station Square have been set aside because Torbay Council cannot afford to borrow to kickstart the regeneration plan (Image: Torbay Council)

The Department for Housing, Community and Local Government says £90.7bn will be provided to councils over the next two years, on top of giving them the power to earn extra through retaining an increased share of business rates.

But Torbay Council is unlikely to see any growth in its business rate base this year.

He said: “We have a shortage of good quality commercial property and the high street is struggling with small enterprises exempt from business rates and charity shops exempt from business rates.”

New hotel planned for Torwood Street, entrance into The Terrace. Image by Kay Elliott

He said that the authority’s efforts to kickstart regeneration, like the Torwood Street scheme, was essential to attract business into the Bay, which in turn, swells the business rate coffers and income for the council.

Mr Parrock, who came into post in 2013, said that in the past six years, the authority had made £69million in savings and had achieved new ways to bring in an income.

He said: “When I came into post, the government was already into austerity and we all knew it would be difficult but I don’t think that anyone thought that the reduction in funding would continue for so long.”